Lee Harvey Oswald's Coffin To Be Auctioned Off

LOS ANGELES (CBS/KCAL) A macabre link to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy - and to assassin Lee Harvey Oswald - will be auctioned off Dec. 16.

According to CBS affiliate KCAL, bidding for the original coffin of Lee Harvey Oswald will begin at $1,000, but auction organizers expect it will fetch much more at the Los Angeles auction.

Oswald was arrested about an hour after President Kennedy's assassination in 1963. He was later shot and killed by Jack Ruby before he could stand trial.

Oswald's heavily water-damaged casket was replaced with a new one when Oswald was reburied at Rose Hill Cemetery in Texas, after his wife exhumed his body as part of a legal battle amid theories a Russian agent was buried in his place.

The pine coffin will be accompanied by a letter of authenticity by Funeral Director Allen Baumgardner, who assisted at the original embalming of Oswald.

Instruments used to embalm Oswald, as well as a blood-stained piece of the leather car-seat where Kennedy was sitting will also be auctioned off.